PENSIONERS in Whitworth are rallying to the plight of residents fighting the closure of their nursing home.

Brookville Home for the Elderly, Rawstron Street, is among 35 homes set to be closed by Lancashire County Council within the next two years.

Brookville is likely to shut down before Christmas.

Earlier this month, the Observer revealed how 102 year-old Mrs Ann-Eva Crossley, who has lived in Whitworth all her life and sold her home to move into Brookville following the death of her son, five years ago, cried herself to sleep every night following announcement of the home's closure.

She said at the time: "This is my home and I don't want to leave it. I can't sleep at night for the worry. I haven't got long left and I want to stay here."

Gillian Knight, whose mother, Mrs Thelma Taylor, also lives in Brookville, called for local people to 'fight for the rights of our elderly'. And pensioners in Whitworth have responsed to her call - not least, 73-year-old Jane Wallace, of Wallbank, who has fired off letters, including one to Tony Blair.

Mrs Wallace has also helped organise a meeting at Whitworth Football and Cricket Club on Monday (2pm) and is asking for as many people as possible to turn up and support the pensioners' plight.

Mrs Knight, who has invited a health care lecturer to voice her opinion on the issue at the meeting, said: "Some people in their 50s, 60s and younger are going along with it, because they think it doesn't affect them, but it will, given time.

"I never thought the day would come when my mum would go into a home, but Lancashire County Council can't provide 24-hour-a-day care to people in their own homes, which is what it comes down to eventually.

"When my mother did have help in the evening, they were putting her to bed before 6pm and sometimes she'd still be waiting to be got up at lunch time. What kind of life is that?"

She added: "County Councillor Ron Pickup says most of the residents are now resigned to leaving Brookville and going into Olive House at Bacup. But that isn't true. The fact is, the people we are talking about are elderly and frightened that if they don't do as they are told, there will be nowhere for them to go.

"The atmosphere there at present is very sad and subdued, even though the staff, who don't know where they stand with their own jobs, are doing their best."

Mrs Wallace said she was disgusted by the way the elderly were being treated. "Who are these councillors - and the government - who are pushing these poor, elderly people around after all they have gone through?"

Although she is 74 herself this year, she cared for 91-year-old neighbour, Mary Appleyard, until she moved into Sunnyside, the only other care home facility in Whitworth and one run by a charitable trust.

She said: "I looked after my friend Mary for 23 years after she had many strokes and suffered a heart condition. I tried to have her here living with me, but after eight weeks, found it too much. In the end she went into the rehabilitation unit at Olive House with the prospect of going back to her own home again.

"She was there 10 weeks and one day I got a call to say she'd had a fall. When I saw her I broke down and wept, she was completely black and blue."

And she added: "I have a petition with around 120 names just from people on Wallbank. We want as many people as we can get at the meeting. We can't let them get away with this."